Compare and contrast the work of illustrators Aubrey Beardsley and Essay

Compare and contrast the work of illustrators Aubrey Beardsley and Edward Gorey - Essay Example He began the art of illustrating in 1892 in Paris where Parisian fashion influenced his style of illustrations. This paper outlines the comparison and contrast between Edward Gorey and Aubrey Beardsley in their works as illustrators. Comparisons Both artists represented the high caliber of creativity and artistic brilliance. Edward on his side is the most imaginative artist of all time in America while Aubrey on the other side was an indispensable artist because he influenced his age and gave huge knowledge throughout Europe and America. Illustrators Gorey and Beardsley were both identified with artwork that had similar form in expressing skills and techniques though in different ways. Their work clearly expresses the value of illustrations in artistic work and shows how they should be correctly executed. They clearly bring out the understanding of each illustration including the shape and form that ensures the genre is understood in the present and future. Both were best known illus trators with detailed illustrations and stories. There works have inspired many people. They both used ink in their drawings and writing. Aubrey in drawing his images used ink, the large dark areas had contrasted with the large blank areas while other areas did not contrast at all. Gorey’s signature pen and ink as illustrated in his work and the use of strange and horrible words made him to be considered as America’s most imaginative and strange artist of all time. They played with both text and pictures i.e. Gorey was best known for his fantastic drawings especially the use of children such as (The Gashlycrumb Tinies, (1963), Alice in wonderland) and amusing, odd/unpredictable stories. Beardsley on the other hand wrote a book, â€Å"Under the Hill† an incomplete erotic tale and many other short stories plus several letters. Most of his work though are illustrated. Some of his famous illustrations include The Stomach Dance, 1894, The Peacock Skirt, 1894, Der Pud erquast, 1893, Masquerade among many others. Beardsley and Gorey’s artistic works were based on the same subject. They both dealt on; costume and fashion, collections, book illustrations, botanicals, education, world culture and others. Their artistic style was also the same and include; photography, fine and vintage. This kind creativity promoted their work and also made them memorable to date. Both created works with different degrees of realism, employing imagery, forms and motifs from flora and fauna. Their work was rated as the most innovative and progressive which attracted many international critics. Gorey's most books are of humor and cartoon sections of most bookstores, although a book such as The Object Lesson earned serious respect in the society, it was full of animation and humor. Contrasts: Gorey's books/work were popular with kids but he never associated them with kids it is believed that he had no fondness for them. Maybe it is because he was never married and he specifically confessed to have less interest in romance as indicated in the book The Strange Case of Edward Gorey. During interviews, he never discussed anything about romance. At one point during an interview he said â€Å"I'm neither one thing nor the other particulars. I am fortunate in that I am apparently reasonably undersexed or something  Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ I've never said that I was gay and I've never said that I wasn't

The Father-Daughter relationship of Atticus to Scout Essay Example for Free

The Father-Daughter relationship of Atticus to Scout Essay The relationship between a father and a daughter is something that has been cherished throughout the ages. Each plays a large role in the development and growth of in each others lives and personalities. The same is true for the relationship between Atticus and Scout in the novel To Kill a Mocking Bird. The stereotypical father to a daughter is usually large, protective, and very kind. Atticus, however, does not fit the stereotype. He is kind, but unlike most fathers, he is tall and skinny, and just tends to read all day. Atticus does not fill the stereotype; however he is a father that parents his daughter with values and tolerance. He does play a role of father figure, but Atticus seems to be less of a father and more of a teacher in Scouts life. The way he instructs her about life, and about how to deal with people, it seems Atticus is attempting to be a teacher to Scout. Atticus, in his wisdom and age, understands Scout very well, if not too well. We see Atticus as being almost omniscient in Scout, and Jems lives. He is the rock and ever unchanging constant factor in their life and his influence is very heavy. Scout is almost a challenge to Atticus, as to how to rear his child to the best of his ability to shape her for the best of circumstances. Though he is her father, Atticus is a teacher and a mentor. His influence affects a lot of Scouts decisions, and Scout helps teach him about life as well. Scout, being a young developing girl, has many changing aspects and thought processes. She tends to be unreliable, and ever-changing, and not at a slow pace either. Scout shows Atticus that kids dont yet know the basics; they need to be taught from the beginning, and need to learn quite a bit about etiquette and how to deal with other human beings. Her relationship with Atticus tends to be mostly that of a pupil to a teacher, but sometimes shifts slightly. In some instances, she fills the role of Atticus daughter, and acts upon love as if related, rather than reason. For sure, Scout knows that she loves Atticus, and she knows he is her father and she respects him. She just does not always treat him like a father, and when she doesnt, she is his pupil. Scout has limited knowledge because of her age, and thusly, cannot understand Atticus as well as he understands her. Atticus tends to be  an enigma to Scout, and reveals himself only when she asks questions, but not revealing himself all the way. She does not understand him in a way a daughter gets a father, but she does have the general knowledge of understand of how a student understands a master. This just furthers the point of their distant relationship. Thought Scout does not understand Atticus as Atticus does Scout, they still have a profound relationship that is almost air tight. The sacred bond between daughter in father comes in many varieties and fashions, one of which being Teacher and Student. This happens to be the way that Atticus and Scout are, which does mean that they arent as close as others. Scout is still developing in life, and her role in Atticus life is changing, and eventually will take on an entirely different form. But as of now, Atticus tends to be the understanding teacher, while Scout is the ignorant pupil. Sources: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Experimentally Induced Resistance to Nalidixic Acid in Bacillus subtill

Experimentally Induced Resistance to Nalidixic Acid in Bacillus subtillis does not Result in Resistance to other Antibiotics Introduction: In the environment, bacteria frequently encounter various antibiotics and through various mechanisms, evolve to become resistant to these antibiotics. Some of these mechanisms sometimes involve beneficial mutations in a bacterium that allow it survive antibiotics but more frequently involve a transfer of genes from other bacteria, even bacteria of different species. Through the transfer of genes from other bacteria, a bacterium can acquire resistance against several antibiotics (Levy 2002). Nalidixic acid is commonly used to treat urinary tract infections (Nalidixic Acid (Systematic) 1999), and is thus found in concentrated amounts in urine. When a person urinates, any excess nalidixic acid can easily find its way to soil, where Bacillus subtilis is found naturally. As the nalidixic acid would be diluted to sub-therapeutic concentrations, all the nalidixic acid would do is to select for resistant strains of any bacteria (e.g. B. subtilis) encountered (Levy 2002). As bacteria can pass along resistance factors to other currently un-resistant bacteria, the harmless B. subtilis which harbors resistance factors against nalidixic acid can potentially pass the resistance factors to harmful bacteria. Bacteria, however, frequently develop resistance not only to one antibiotic but to several and can pass on resistance factors for all these antibiotics to other bacteria. This study will attempt to produce B. subtilis that is resistant to nalidixic acid and determine if these nalid ixic acid-resistant B. subtillis are also resistant to other antibiotics, especially those in the same class. ... ...important not to lose its effectiveness to antibiotic resistance. References: Ciprofloxacin (Oral) [Internet]. Medline Plus Health Information, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health; [updated 2003 Apr 3; cited 2003 Apr 5]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a688016.html Levy, S. B. 2002.The Antibiotic Paradox: How the Misuse of Antibiotics Destroys Their Curative Powers. Perseus Publishing, MA. Hardy, S. P. 2002. Human Microbiology. Taylor and Francis, NY. Nalidixic Acid (Systematic) [Internet]. Medline Plus Health Information, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health; [updated 1999 Jun 14; cited 2003 Mar 6]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202387.html Voyles, B. A. 2003. Personal communication. Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing. Experimentally Induced Resistance to Nalidixic Acid in Bacillus subtill Experimentally Induced Resistance to Nalidixic Acid in Bacillus subtillis does not Result in Resistance to other Antibiotics Introduction: In the environment, bacteria frequently encounter various antibiotics and through various mechanisms, evolve to become resistant to these antibiotics. Some of these mechanisms sometimes involve beneficial mutations in a bacterium that allow it survive antibiotics but more frequently involve a transfer of genes from other bacteria, even bacteria of different species. Through the transfer of genes from other bacteria, a bacterium can acquire resistance against several antibiotics (Levy 2002). Nalidixic acid is commonly used to treat urinary tract infections (Nalidixic Acid (Systematic) 1999), and is thus found in concentrated amounts in urine. When a person urinates, any excess nalidixic acid can easily find its way to soil, where Bacillus subtilis is found naturally. As the nalidixic acid would be diluted to sub-therapeutic concentrations, all the nalidixic acid would do is to select for resistant strains of any bacteria (e.g. B. subtilis) encountered (Levy 2002). As bacteria can pass along resistance factors to other currently un-resistant bacteria, the harmless B. subtilis which harbors resistance factors against nalidixic acid can potentially pass the resistance factors to harmful bacteria. Bacteria, however, frequently develop resistance not only to one antibiotic but to several and can pass on resistance factors for all these antibiotics to other bacteria. This study will attempt to produce B. subtilis that is resistant to nalidixic acid and determine if these nalid ixic acid-resistant B. subtillis are also resistant to other antibiotics, especially those in the same class. ... ...important not to lose its effectiveness to antibiotic resistance. References: Ciprofloxacin (Oral) [Internet]. Medline Plus Health Information, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health; [updated 2003 Apr 3; cited 2003 Apr 5]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a688016.html Levy, S. B. 2002.The Antibiotic Paradox: How the Misuse of Antibiotics Destroys Their Curative Powers. Perseus Publishing, MA. Hardy, S. P. 2002. Human Microbiology. Taylor and Francis, NY. Nalidixic Acid (Systematic) [Internet]. Medline Plus Health Information, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health; [updated 1999 Jun 14; cited 2003 Mar 6]. Available from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/202387.html Voyles, B. A. 2003. Personal communication. Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing.

The Affirmative Action Plan

The following Affirmative Action Plan is a response by Company XYZ to a growing concern for providing equal opportunity to all prospective and current employees. XYZ is a industry leader and therefore has the express responsibility to set an example for affirmative action. In addition to a commitment to complying with all state and federal laws, XYZ is also firmly committed to a diverse workplace environment, and a workplace free of any manifestation of discrimination. XYZ is therefore dedicated to making appropriate changes to our policies and procedures wherever necessary, in order to comply with the law and to comply with our company mission. This Affirmative Action Plan is an expression of such willingness to make changes. The proposals contained herein pertain specifically to the following changes. First, we propose equal opportunities for men and women concerning maternity and paternity leaves of absence. We also want to reassure all employees that their jobs remain secure during their leaves of absence. Second, we have been increasingly aware of a lack of diversity at the upper management levels of our corporation. XYZ proposes to increase workplace diversity at this crucial level of the company by ensuring equal opportunities for promotions by women, minorities, and people with disabilities. Third, XYZ remains firmly committed to equalizing salaries, compensation rates, and benefits for all employees and XYZ will not tolerate discrepancies between the salaries of workers in the same position. This Affirmative Action Plan will not only defend our commitment to equal opportunity but will also outline the steps we propose to remedy the current situation and to increase diversity at XYZ. With regards to maternity and paternity leave, we assure all female employees that maternity leave will consist of a paid leave of absence for the duration of between twenty and thirty weeks. The leave of absence does not have to be taken in consecutive days and may be broken up into segments. Due to widespread concern, XYZ is expanding company policy to include male workers for eligibility for paternity leave. It is our belief that fathers should participate fully in every stage of their child's development and therefore XYZ wishes to facilitate this process. Any male employee who seeks paternity leave will be granted a leave of absence equal in length and equal in compensation with their female counterparts. The lack of diversity evident at upper management levels of XYZ is a growing concern among all employees. XYZ has managed to retain a diverse workforce at every other level of our operation except for upper-level management and therefore we realize the necessity for change as well as the possibility to implement change. This Affirmative Action Plan in part proposes that promotions be made with conscientious attention paid to recruiting management staff who are as of now underrepresented. Under-representation will be defined according to the workforce population as a whole, and secondarily, according to the demographics of our community. We believe that equal representation at upper management levels is of the utmost importance because of the significance of the decisions made at that level. Finally, XYZ ensures all employees that equal pay for equal work remains a top priority. While XYZ does comply with state and federal regulations regarding equal pay for equal work, we feel that far more can be done to balance out the discrepancies between compensation and benefit rates for male and female employees. Gender in particular remains a major factor determining pay rates. Again, upper-level management is the sector most affected by unequal compensation rates. This Affirmative Action Plan sets forth a guideline for easing XYZ into a salary-equity program that will result in a steady increase of pay for underpaid employees without discrimination against employees who are already earning the target salaries.

Cebuano Dialect

Rationale: The Cebuano language is widely spoken in the Philippines. It is the primary language of approximately 15 million people living in the central part of the country. The Cebuano people have been using a single dialect but with different accent, pronunciation, meaning, and the way they deliver it. Cebuano is the language spoken in the provinces of Cebu, Negros Oriental, Bohol, Southern Leyte and Southern Masbate. The purpose of this study is to distinguish the variations and difference of our own Cebuano Dialect.Before the Spaniards and other Europeans came to the Visayas, there was no word or place called Cebu and no language was called Cebuano. There was a town named Sugbo and the Spaniards hispanized the name into Cebu and Cebuano to refer to the people and language spoken in Sugbo and adjacent areas has one dialect and that is Cebuano-Bisaya. Yet, we come into a point that the Language itself varies in different ways from grammar, pronunciation and its word meaning. TABLES AND FINDINGS Place: Aloguinsan, Cebu. Southern Part of Cebu City) Respondents 2 young adults Name:Saniel Gagarani age:19 years old Occupation: Farmer Pila naman ka years nag uma? Answer: Tagutlo na ka tuig ang milabay. Tagpila diay ang sako sa Humay? Answer: Tagpira? Tag Otso sintos ang sako sa wala pa gi galling. Name: Alferdo DumaguitAge: 17 years oldOccupation: Uneducated/Bystanders Ngano wala man ka ni tiwas pag skuela? Answer: Kay apiki man mi sa kwarta. Na paka plano mu balik pag skuela?Answer: Naa pa, pero nag agad pa ko nga mahusay mi. 2 elderly Name: Paterno MahinayAge:32years old Occupation: Farmer Dugay namo nag puyo dri dapita? Answer: Oo, na libud na namo ang tibuok South og diri rami napahimutang. Kanus-a man mo nakabalik sa syudad? Answer: Makadto ako Cebu hagbay na mga napulo na ka tuig milabay. Name: Agustino Campana Age: 52years old Occupation: Barangay tanod. Dugay na ka nag tanod kuya? Answer: Tiod-tiod na pud. Mao mani ako panginabuhi. Asa diay imo asawa kuya?A na man ang mga tao single daw ka? Answer: Maraot man og batasan, nag bulag mi. 2 students Name: Haniel Paquibot Age: 15 years old Occupation: Student Ganahan ka mo skuela? Dili ka tapulan? Answer: Makapoy lakaw padulong sa skuelahan. Unsa naman ka gradoha? Gwapa sad imo maestro? Answer: Grade 6, Mahusay ra. Maot ug batasan. Name: Lemuel Rago Age: 12 years old Occupation: Student Nalingaw ka sa skuelahan? Answer: Makapoy sige og surat makaturogon ko. Unsa man imo masulti sa imo maestro?Buotan? Gwapa? Answer: Nakarugay ko. CONCLUSION: Therefore, Cebuano refers primarily to the inhabitants of the Province of Cebu, their descendants, and to the language they speak. It refers to both the people and the language. No one argues with this definition. Secondarily, though there are some who disagree with this, Cebuano applies to all speakers of vernaculars mutually intelligible with the vernaculars of Cebu, regardless of origin or location of the speakers, and their ancestry.However, with res pect to the structure of the dialect. There are also words that retain the /r/ in the aforementioned position yet are as popularly spoken without it. But all in all, there is yet no standard for spoken Cebuano. Having a standard language is a matter of power, acceptability and extensive usage. In each of the respective territories of Cebuano, there is a dominant variety, those in their economic and educational centers. RECOMMENDATIONS

buy custom Who Owns Knowledge essay

buy custom Who Owns Knowledge essay The issue of bringing traditional cures to the market in industrialized nations is a very complex. This is because it has serious challenges as well as enormous benefits. The serious issue is that the traditional medicines seems to work but for these products to be brought to the market they must undergo an extensive research and testing. This brings serious concerns on who should bear the liability should these products have adverse reactions. This has put a hindrance on the very useful indigenous knowledge of the traditional cures. The issues of traditional cures should be addressed by the modern chemical world. A way should be found in which these traditional knowledge of traditional cures should be incorporated in the market. Modern corporations should undertake an intensive research of these traditional medicines and come up with a product that meets the current standards in the medical world. These would have taken into account the issue of research and the liability of the prodcts. The greatest challenge would be how these corporations should pay royalties. The knowledge on traditional cures has been passed down many generations and the issue of who exactly invented or who owns the knowledge is very hard to solve. The knowledge is seen to be own by the community that uses it because it is seen that the people who administers the medicines have been entrusted that responsibility by the community and performs that duty as a responsibility to the whole community. Since the knowledge of the traditional medicines is seen as the communities, then the royalties should be paid to the community. The challenge however is how these royalties should be paid to the community. Royalties must be paid y these corporations to the community since it own the knowledge of traditional cures. These royalties should benefit the community directly hence community and the parties involved should find a way of settlement. The most appropriate way of setttling the royalty is to the entire village of the shamans. This is because the responsibility of the traditional cures lies with the whole community and not to the shamans as individuals. If these royalties are paid to the nations in which the nations reside then there is no guarantee that the local shamans will benefit. In the event of a lawsuit, all the parties involved should share in the risks, however the risks should be to the extend to which the involved parties contributes to the details of the lawsuit. If the corporations take full responsibility of the research and test then it should bear the risks alone. The government on the other hand must formulate laws to protect both these corporations and the shamans communities. The knowledge of traditional medicines is very important and if taken seriously can bring a lot of benefits to all the parties involved, individuals, community, corporations, as well as the government. This knowledge should therefore be preserved. Buy custom Who Owns Knowledge essay

10 Expository Essay Topics on the History of Art

10 Expository Essay Topics on the History of Art If you are writing an expository paper on art history, there are many potential topics and ideas from which to choose. Once you have your topic, it’s time to find some useful facts that you can refer to in your writing. Consider a few interesting facts below: Buddhism has been portrayed on four panels, each using artwork to tell about four miracles of Buddha. One of them is his heavy meditation to achieve enlightenment. The second piece of artwork shows Buddha under a tree meditating while attacked from all angles the by demons of Mara who stands with his sword ready. The artwork is indicative of the many demons attacking the Buddha such as his father preventing him from leaving the palace walls as well as the suffering of humans, expressed by the half animal/half human creatures and the soldiers who are struck down by the mere serenity of the Buddha. By touching the ground in this photo, he rules over Mara and shows that the earth will witness his mastery of meditation and enlightenment. Religion has always played a heavy influence in historical pieces of art that arise from Europe. And this applies not just to paintings or sculptures but to statues and music alike. The ninth century was a period when Catholic Church experimented with music as a form of art. This is where the chants and melodies began to cross one another in parallel, something that created a drone in the embellishment. This type of music became exceedingly popular in Notre Dame located in Paris and took on the name â€Å"Ars Antique† otherwise known as â€Å"old art†. Art changed significantly during the Middle Ages. Earlier it had focused on bright colors meant to draw attention from the viewer to the main characters within the artwork. The characters in question were symbolic and meant to embody love and sensuality. During the Renaissance period, contrast and shadow effects were used in tandem with lighting to draw attention to the idea that love is more than an emotional response, and that it can also be sensuality and the love of flesh. The Middle Ages focused on content and used varying artistic ideals in order to convey sacred virtues from that period whereas the Renaissance focused on secular ideas, moving away from the church and its influence over commissioned artists. Artwork during this time transitioned from displays of Biblical scenes, where lighting reflected the angelic nature of prophets or man, and instead emphasized the sensuality and stark contrast between the gender roles and the idea of love. The Middle Ages brought with them a religious movement stemming from the transitional period which is called â€Å"Modern Devotion†. This period encouraged people to read their scriptures, meditate, and seek out a personal relationship with God. But the artistic movement shifted toward Naturalism, whereby oil paintings began to resemble optimal reality as their style. In fact, the High Renaissance in Italy was responsible for influencing many of the new artists who expounded upon the compositions and themes of older generations. During the 16th century in Italy, the Late Renaissance and Mannerism were seen throughout the artwork, something that conflicted with artists throughout Europe who did not stem from Rome or enjoy the Roman influence aforementioned. Mannerism was a form of artistic technique which emphasized beautiful figures, erudite subject matter and virtuosity. Each one of their compositions was complex. This complexity was deliberate and meant to appeal to the more sophisticated taste of the existing middle class. Mannerism was synonymous with refinement, and rather than focusing on clarity or unity, these artists focused on grace and virtuoso. Beauty was redefined as artists explored unusual proportions, compositions, and figure types. Venus and Adonis is a piece of artwork which was created in 1635 and functions as a reflection on the sensuality and the detail that embodies the Baroque style. This painting is meant to focus on the themes of Adonis, the offspring of the King Cinyras of Paphos and his daughter. Because of the beautiful nature of Adonis, Venus fell in love with him, being touched by Cupid’s arrow. As the story unfolds Adonis is killed by a wild boar when he is hunting and the news of his death cause Venus to seek him out only to find the earth where his blood was spilled on sprouting anemones. The painting Venus and Adonis displays Venus nude, seated and pulling at Adonis not to go and stay with her. The blonde hair is shown in disorder, something meant to indicate her distress. And Adonis is tan, muscular, with a red tunic the color of which is indicative of his blood soon to be spilled. The Metamorphoses in this painting symbolize marital love. But beyond the love between Venus and Adonis this large painting includes themes of Deities, love, cupid, and nudity. Mars and Venus United by Love is an oil painting which presents Cupid binding Venus to Mars. In it, Venus is white, indicating her purity. She is being bound to the leg of Mars who is the god of war. This painting shows how opposites can be united in love, something which reflects upon mythology, unity in politics, unity in religion, and more, all of which can be bound together through love. The painting Mars and Venus United by Love explores the Baroque themes of sexuality by showing Mars in a satin, shimmering clock and Venus - nude. She is wearing nothing but strands of pearls in her hair and ears. Also gold on her belt and bracelets. The selection of white represents purity while the selection of gold indicates royalty, or the gods and goddesses that the two characters are. These color selections are meant to accentuate the aristocracy. Peter Paul Ruben was the painter at the end of the Protestant Reformation which took place in the Netherlands. It was during this period that sensuality, color, and movement were used to depict different themes. This artist is well known for his historical paintings, his landscapes and counter-reformation artwork. He painted in Italy, where his famous Venus and Adonis was completed. Paolo Veronese was a painter from the Renaissance period which took place from 1528 until 1588 in Italy, whose paintings became quite popular because of their colors and decorations. The painter applies even more Mannerist stylization by elaborating on architectural settings and color, specifically in his painting Mars and Venus United by Love. These facts should give you enough material to corroborate your expository essay. Don’t forget to check our set of 20 topics on Art History and the guide to writing an expository essay on the one you pick. References: Fenlon, Iain (editor) (1989).  The Renaissance: from the 1470s to the End of the 16th Century. Man Music.  2. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. (MMA) Paolo Veronese, Mars and Venus United by Love, G 609 (10. 189) Pauw-De Veen, Lydia de. Rubens and the graphic arts. In:  Connoisseur  CXCV/786 (Aug 1977). Penelope Davies, Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition (Upper Saddle River, NJ 2006), 469 Preziosi, Donald, ed.  The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology: A Critical Anthology. Oxford University Press, 1998. Sherrane, Robert. â€Å"Music History 102: A Guide to Western Composers and their music†. IPL2 Organization. 2008. Sydney Freedberg, Painting in Italy, 1500-1600 (Penguin Books Ltd), 567

PHP Web Page Redirect Script

PHP Web Page Redirect Script A PHP forwarding script is useful if you want to redirect one page to another so that your visitors can reach a different page than the one they land on. Fortunately, its really easy to forward with PHP. With this method,  you seamlessly transfer visitors from the web page that no longer exists to the new page without requiring them to click a link to continue. How to Redirect With PHP On the page that you want to redirect elsewhere, change the PHP code to read like this:   ?php header( Location: yoursite.com/new_page.html ) ; ? The  header()  function sends a raw HTTP header. It must be called before any output is sent, either by normal HTML tags, by PHP,  or by blank lines. Replace the URL in this sample code  with the URL of the page where you want to redirect visitors. Any page is supported, so you can transfer  visitors to a different webpage on your own site or to a different website entirely. Because this includes the  header()  function, be sure  that you do not have any text sent to the browser before this code, or it will not work. Your safest bet is to remove all the content from the page except for the redirect code. When to Use a PHP Redirect Script If you remove one of your web pages, its a good idea to set up a redirect so that anyone who bookmarked that page is transferred automatically to an active, updated page on your website. Without the PHP forward, visitors would remain on the dead, broken, or inactive page. The benefits of this PHP script are as follows: Users are redirected quickly and seamlessly.When the  Back  button is clicked, visitors  are  taken to the last viewed page, not the redirect page.The redirect works on all web browsers. Tips for Setting up a Redirect Remove  all code but this redirect script.Mention on the new page that users should update their links and bookmarks.Use this code to create a drop-down menu that redirects users.

Democratic Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Democratic Theory - Essay Example It takes care of subjects related with political pluralism, equality in the wake of law and the right to submit petition for the elected officials. (Young, 2000) It also brings to light different matters pertaining to human rights, civil liberties, a number of varied elements of the civil society and the different institutions working under the auspices of the government of the state. The origin of democracy has come about from the Ancient Greek times. The Ancient Greek political and philosophical thoughts made use of democracy and its different undertakings in their day to day affairs and practice. Plato called democracy as the system of rule by the governed, which summed the whole essence of democracy in its truest sense. The Republics of Ancient India had some instances and traces of civilizations of democracy within their ranks. This was way before the birth of the Buddha. Thus the origins of democracy stretch quite back in time and a number of nations can hold themselves in line with the original basis that was brought forward by this system of government, ruling and indeed legislation. (Przeworski) In its truest meaning, democratic theory is a political philosophy more than anything else. It is a form of government which exists for the people and brought in essence by the people. Democracy calls for competitive elections which are mandatory within such a form of government. What this does is to elect people or office bearers who get the most votes in such an election exercise. These elections bring to light the aspects of freedom of speech, freedom for the press and television and radio as well as a general exercise of law within the very state in which elections are being carried out. (Gabardi, 2001) In the name of democracy, it is significant that the civilian control of the military is kept away as much as possible since this gives rise to military dictatorship regimes and thus intervenes in the smooth political affairs and their

Securing the Nation from Terrorism Threat Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Securing the Nation from Terrorism Threat - Essay Example The local community initiatives that can address mitigation and preparedness against terrorist attack include: Volunteering in the police service, This is initiatives that train civilian volunteers who then can assist in the local police department, freeing up an officer to a critical function that affects community security (Docobo). Also through neighborhood watch initiatives that encourage civilian to report to authority any suspicious activity in their immediate neighborhood, according to Docobo in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, neighborhood watch has taken a greater priority as the mean of securing our community. Community emergency team’s initiatives, these programs provide emergency training to civilians with the aim of enhancing their capacity to respond and mitigate the effect of disasters (Docobo). Also through the initiative of medical reserve corp where skills of practicing and retired physician, health professionals and nurses who are willing to volunteer are brought together and play a mitigation role in the event of a large-scale emergency situation. Docobo points out that, since September 11, 2001, community initiatives toward disaster mitigation and preparedness partnership with a homeland security play vital role in addressing the security issue, this is because communities have dynamic skills necessary to identify, plan, mobilize and respond to the terrorist attack (Docobo). However, trust is an important component that builds community participation. Homeland security in collaboration with the private sector enhances preparedness through various means, which include: developing and implementing risk-based transportation, this approach focus on those who pose a threat to the transportation network where passenger and cargo screening is emphasized even in the private sector so that to ensure the security of all American people.  

Heakthcare strategies Decision-making Tools Essay - 1

Heakthcare strategies Decision-making Tools - Essay Example In which case, the early phase requires creating a small but powerful team to guide the initiative. This is the ideal situation regardless of organization type (Kotter, 2007). Having senior-level management form the core of the group will create the needed sense of urgency. Kotter (2007), however, argued that even in these early days of implementing the strategic plan the guiding team needs to include members who are not part of the senior-level of management. These other members are particularly important for two reasons: to communicate the vision and message of change to their peers and to communicate the challenges and concerns faced by their peers with regards to implementing the strategic plan to senior management. The above approach will not be effective especially at the later stages of implementation when the need to communicate the new vision and strategy becomes mandatory. Ultimately, the strategic plan cannot be implemented without the participation of most of the employees in the organization. According to Kotter (2007) transformation is impossible unless hundreds or thousands of people are willing to help, often to the point of making short-term sacrifices. It is obvious that implementing any new vision will have some effect on employees’ normal activities. This means that employees need to be convinced to believe that useful change is possible with implementation of that strategic plan. Without credible communication, the hearts and minds of the staff will not be captured. This will be counterintuitive to the organization’s plan because when employees are neither fully convinced of senior management’s plan nor are the involved in it, they resist the change Moreover communication is achieved through both action and deeds. Keeping employees in the dark lowers the trust and confidence they have towards senior management. To ensure the successful implementation of this assisted living facility’s strategic

International Expansion Opportunities of importing an energy drink Essay

International Expansion Opportunities of importing an energy drink product from Brazil to Germany called Guarana Antarctica - Essay Example In addition, the firm’s business strategic plan requires drafting, formulation, and implementation in line with venturing business operations in new countries. A strategic management plan is an overview of different forms of activities that a firm is likely to be engaged in with an aim of competing effectively and efficient with local firms while venturing in new countries. Moreover, there is need to evaluate business opportunities for the company in question so as to be sure that once established within the new country, expanded business will still make profits. Giving the firm a name of Guantarctic Ltd Company, the following is a description of various strategies that it will employ in order to venture in the new market, Germany. This strategic planning includes amongst other things company profile, country evaluation, useful and long lasting strategies, as well as the implementation process. Company profile includes both internal and external strengths, competitors, and the industry analysis. Competitor analysis in this paper is portrayed through SWOT analysis and PESTLE whilst the industry analysis is through Porter’s five forces of management. Within the country evaluation, a profile of Germany with respect to the product to be introduced by Guantarctic Ltd Company forms part of the strategic plan. Country evaluation is also done using the PESTLE analysis. The background information gives company profile and strengths to penetrate into Germany’s food and beverage market coupled with necessary strategies and their implementation. Section 1: Background Company profile Guantarctic Ltd Company is a Brazil-based company that produces, markets, and distributes beverages especially energy and soft drinks within Brazil and the whole of South America. Since its inception in 1927, Guantarctic Ltd Company has been the main fore runner within South America’s energy market. Consequently, this has helped in expansion and growth in North Ameri ca about 20 years ago. Guantarctic Ltd Company’s entrance into North America resulted into additional markets hence costs and profitability. Nonetheless, its focused human resource worked tirelessly to ensure fulfilling the increased demand resulting from expansion into South America through production of higher capacities of energy drinks compared to earlier on before expansion. Guantarctic Ltd Company has a total of approximately Internal Strengths Guantarctic Ltd Company boosts of various internal strengths that includes the following: Mission Statement: Guantarctic Ltd Company has a strong mission statement that has given direction in performing the business. The firm’s mission statement states, â€Å"From our understanding of vital role of selling quality beverage products, Guantarctic Ltd Company is a community that focuses on building customers’ needs, employees’ future, and shareholders’ wealth†. This mission statement ensures that G uantarctic Ltd Company becomes an all-round firm meeting the needs of three main stakeholders; customers, employees, and shareholders. Vision Statement: Other than mission statement steering Guantarctic Ltd Company to higher heights, the company has also relied so much on its vision as a strategic tool to meeting objectives and goals. The vision of Guantarctic Ltd Company states that: â€Å"To achieve sustainable expansion and growth, we as a family has a vision with clear goals that include the 5Ps; Profit: While minimizing costs, Guantarctic Lt

Ethics and Law in Business and Society (4 questions) Essay

Ethics and Law in Business and Society (4 questions) - Essay Example A common example (argument) that arises when discussing market failure is the issue of the minimum wage law (Verleun et al. 15). The law sets wages higher than the going market-clearing wage in an effort to elevate market wages. Analysts argue that this greater wage cost will make employers recruit fewer minimum-wage workers compared to before the law was enacted (Verleun et al. 15). Therefore, more minimum wage employees are left jobless, establishing a social cost and leading to market failure. The advantage of government regulation on the minimum wage is that is enable people to be paid fairly for the work they have done (Verleun et al. 16). However, the disadvantage of this is that a firm cannot control how much they pay their workers. A sewer system could be regarded as a public good. It also falls under the theory of market failure because, in some regions, they system does not function appropriately as it is needed, and; therefore, it affect the people who depend on it. Questi on 2 One main policy foundation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was personal liability (Verleun et al. 23). ... 23). The act importantly reinforced the rule that shareholders own the United States corporations and that business managers ought to be working for shareholders to distribute business resources to their best use (Verleun et al. 23). After the law was enacted, financial experts cited enhanced investor confidence, more accuracy and more reliable financial statements as some of the benefits that the U.S. was enjoying. The CFO and CEO are now needed clearly to take charge for their financial statements below Section 302, which was not so before the SOX (Verleun et al. 23). Critics noted that this law is financially feasible because it has improved the confidence of investors (Verleun et al. 24). Many investors are now willing to venture into the United States because of the easiness of investing in the country. Also, the government does not have to worry about financially backing the investors because shareholders can enjoy full ownership of the corporations. This policy is fully conser vative as it puts everybody on the same platform when it comes to investment (Verleun et al. 23). Even though, critics argue that it reduces the number of workers in the U.S., everybody still has a chance of reaching the highest level with this law. Question 3 According to Hobbes, peoples’ lives in the state of nature were "lonely, poor, spiteful, violent and short", a state through which egotism and the nonexistence of rights and contracts prohibited the 'social', or society. Locke, on the other hand, considered that people in a state of nature are morally bound by The Law of Nature, simply not to harm themselves, but devoid of any government administration to safeguard them against those

International Expansion Opportunities of importing an energy drink Essay

International Expansion Opportunities of importing an energy drink product from Brazil to Germany called Guarana Antarctica - Essay Example In addition, the firm’s business strategic plan requires drafting, formulation, and implementation in line with venturing business operations in new countries. A strategic management plan is an overview of different forms of activities that a firm is likely to be engaged in with an aim of competing effectively and efficient with local firms while venturing in new countries. Moreover, there is need to evaluate business opportunities for the company in question so as to be sure that once established within the new country, expanded business will still make profits. Giving the firm a name of Guantarctic Ltd Company, the following is a description of various strategies that it will employ in order to venture in the new market, Germany. This strategic planning includes amongst other things company profile, country evaluation, useful and long lasting strategies, as well as the implementation process. Company profile includes both internal and external strengths, competitors, and the industry analysis. Competitor analysis in this paper is portrayed through SWOT analysis and PESTLE whilst the industry analysis is through Porter’s five forces of management. Within the country evaluation, a profile of Germany with respect to the product to be introduced by Guantarctic Ltd Company forms part of the strategic plan. Country evaluation is also done using the PESTLE analysis. The background information gives company profile and strengths to penetrate into Germany’s food and beverage market coupled with necessary strategies and their implementation. Section 1: Background Company profile Guantarctic Ltd Company is a Brazil-based company that produces, markets, and distributes beverages especially energy and soft drinks within Brazil and the whole of South America. Since its inception in 1927, Guantarctic Ltd Company has been the main fore runner within South America’s energy market. Consequently, this has helped in expansion and growth in North Ameri ca about 20 years ago. Guantarctic Ltd Company’s entrance into North America resulted into additional markets hence costs and profitability. Nonetheless, its focused human resource worked tirelessly to ensure fulfilling the increased demand resulting from expansion into South America through production of higher capacities of energy drinks compared to earlier on before expansion. Guantarctic Ltd Company has a total of approximately Internal Strengths Guantarctic Ltd Company boosts of various internal strengths that includes the following: Mission Statement: Guantarctic Ltd Company has a strong mission statement that has given direction in performing the business. The firm’s mission statement states, â€Å"From our understanding of vital role of selling quality beverage products, Guantarctic Ltd Company is a community that focuses on building customers’ needs, employees’ future, and shareholders’ wealth†. This mission statement ensures that G uantarctic Ltd Company becomes an all-round firm meeting the needs of three main stakeholders; customers, employees, and shareholders. Vision Statement: Other than mission statement steering Guantarctic Ltd Company to higher heights, the company has also relied so much on its vision as a strategic tool to meeting objectives and goals. The vision of Guantarctic Ltd Company states that: â€Å"To achieve sustainable expansion and growth, we as a family has a vision with clear goals that include the 5Ps; Profit: While minimizing costs, Guantarctic Lt

Hacking and Cracking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hacking and Cracking - Essay Example This means that the person performing hacking had to modify system operations to attain what they require or to perform unusual functions (Peterson and Bender, 2011). Hacking evolved after the invention of the fist computer in the 1950s and was widely changed and used to test the strength of systems. Later in 1980s hacking and cracking where differentiated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). According to MIT, hacking is ethical non-destructive performances while cracking is non-ethical performances aimed at destroying computer systems either by breaking, wiping out data or infecting the system with viruses or malware. The 21st century description for hacking is based on the following terms. Hacking must follow safety measures, must not be destructive and must not have effect on any person emotionally, physically or mentally. Hacking is performed with the help of the following programming languages, telnet, Trojan horses and key loggers. Hacking with the use of Trojan horses helps the hacker to passwords. A Trojan horse is a kind of program that is only meant for hacking and not like viruses or worms. Viruses and worms replicate th emselves and are meant for destruction of programs in the system (Peterson and Bender, 2011). According to Syed (2004), hacking is an illegal act if a person does not have authority to perform such actions. Hacking operation can be performed on various systems such as emails whereby persons hack email. Hacking is also done by computer experts who are able to write programs or have wide knowledge of programming languages. Hacking is mainly performed to ascertain the strength of company’s security system. In this way, the organization can pin-point and correct the security flaws in the organization to avoid loss of data or computer virus infections. Cracking is done with help of software. However, the person cracking must also have a bit of knowledge of programming

Timothy Treadwell Behavior Essay Example for Free

Timothy Treadwell Behavior Essay There’s a lot of awareness toward animal rights and animal cruelty in the United States, there are plenty of animal rights organizations that help us the public learn about what happens to animals when we don’t know or see. But some activist make the safety of animals their priority in life, even to the point to put them in danger to do what they think is correct. Timothy Treadwell, also known as Grizzly Man, did just that. Being a hardcore activist living with grizzlies in order to protect them from what he called â€Å"the evils of men†. According to Anthrozoologist like Hal Herzog, the author of â€Å"Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat†, Timothy Treadwell’s behavior can be explained by his past life struggles, his over love for bears, and his eagerness to take action. How does someone go from being an actor to a bear enthusiast? Treadwell’s occupation is stated as being an actor because that’s what he studied for, but it was something that he didn’t get lucky in and therefor became a frustrated actor. The truth about Treadwell is that before you found his â€Å"calling† he was a very lost and unhappy person, in some of his footage saying â€Å"Nobody friggin’ knew that there are times when my life has been on the precipice of death†. Treadwell after becoming alcoholic survived a near-fatal heroin overdose making him realize that he had to do something in his life that was meaningful and that’s where the grizzlies changed his life. Hal Herzog says â€Å"animal activism can give meaning and purpose to a person’s life† (Herzog 242), after hiding bottom Treadwell needed to figure out what else he had to do where he wouldn’t be judged, rejected, and ashamed by anyone. When Treadwell met his first bear, he found his calling, he found his meaning in life, he now knew what his purpose was and that was to live among the brown bears. Because of his past situations and disappointments, being alone in the wild with creatures that wouldn’t mind having him around and where curious about him made him feel safe. In the film Treadwell shares how he can’t wait to return to Alaska when he leaves, he enjoyed being out there because that was his safe zone in life away from all ‘evil’. That safe zone with the bears kept Treadwell at piece and gave him an identity, Hal Herzog giving an example of activist that are lost in the world and once they find something worth fighting for they find themselves and gain an identity. Treadwell’s identity was Grizzly Man, his identity gave him power and strength that helped him throughout the ears with living with bears for 13 summers. There’s a saying that states â€Å"love kills† and you could say that about Timothy Treadwell’s death, being attacked and eaten by the very animal that he love the most makes you wonder why anyone could pass logic and follow their heart. Throughout Werner Herzog’s film Treadwell shouts, cries, and expresses how much he loves grizzly bears, â€Å"I will die for these animals! I will die for these animals! I will die for these animals! † he said. Hal Herzog explains in a chapter that sometimes instead of following our heads we believe we should follow our hearts because that will lead us to happiness, â€Å"Our hearts are even more prone to error than our heads†(Herzog 260). Treadwell’s heart was bears and helping the bears, but because of the obsessive love he had turned into the willingness to go against his logic of living with wild animals. He believed that bears were his friends; he told them he loved them and even petted them, Treadwell didn’t care about anything else besides his friends in the wild whom he loved and was willing to die for them and did die because of one. His powering love that he had for these animals, the living things that had saved his life and brought so much happiness, was a reason why he decided to leave humans and life in solitude with bears. â€Å"I am the Lord’s humble servant. I am Allah’s disciple there has been an absolute miracle. It has rained 1. 65 inches of rain today† Treadwell said after a long drought affecting the animals. Treadwell’s love drove him to take action but his eagerness to go every summer and spend months alone, his ambition, desire, and anxiousness to be with bears was from his passion to return the favor. â€Å"The moral commitment of activists shows up in many different ways Sometimes the burden just gets too heavy† (Herzog 245), Treadwell felt like he owned his life to the bears that he had a commitment to them and was never to break it. After saving his internal and physical self he needed to protect them and he did as much as he could, he looked after the animals as if they were his family and when it got hard he just took it out on himself and never on the animals because Treadwell believed humans were the problem not the bears. Treadwell wanted to accomplish what no other person could do and that was to live within wild animals that had the strength to kill anyone, and his ambition drove him to take action, his love and commitment to the grizzly bears. Timothy Treadwell’s death was horrific and not shocking at all because most people did except that to happen, if you asked anyone what they thought of Treadwell decision to live with grizzlies they’d probably say he was crazy. But the truth is that he was crazy but crazy in love, in love with the animals that had given him a purpose in life and had saved him from his past. Timothy Treadwell didn’t want harm for anyone or for anything, he just wanted to express his gratitude and love to the animals that had changed his life forever.

Fact Finding Techniques In System Investigation

Fact Finding Techniques In System Investigation Fact-finding is an important activity in system investigation. In this stage, the functioning of the system is to be understood by the system analyst to design the proposed system. Various methods are used for this and these are known as fact-finding techniques. The analyst needs to fully understand the current system. The analyst needs data about the requirements and demands of the project undertaken and the techniques employed to gather this data are known as fact-finding techniques. Various kinds of techniques are used and the most popular among them are interviews, questionnaires, record reviews, case tools and also the personal observations made by the analyst himself. Each of these techniques is further dealt in next pages. Two people can go into the same area to gather facts and experience entirely different results. One spends weeks and gets incomplete and misleading data. The other is finished in a few hours and has complete and solid facts. This session outlines some of the things a person can do to achieve the latter. Requirements analysis encompasses all of the tasks that go into the investigation, scoping and definition of a new or altered system. The first activity in analysis phase is to do the preliminary investigation. During the preliminary investigation data collecting is a very important and for this we can use the fact finding techniques. The following fact finding techniques can be used for collecting the data: Interviews Analysts can use interviews to collect information about the current system form the potential users. Here the analysts discover the areas of misunderstanding, unrealistic exception and descriptions of activities and problems along with resistance to the new proposed system. Interviews are time consuming. Questionnaires Here the analysts can collect data from large groups. Questionnaires could be Open-ended or Close questionnaires. Open-ended questionnaires are used to learn feelings, opinions, general experiences on process detail or problem. In it, questions are answered in their own words. Where as in closed questionnaires a set of prescribed answers are used and specific response have to be selected. This is a costly affair as the questions should be printed out. *Getting Cooperation in Fact Finding: The cooperation of operating people is crucial to fact gathering. However, if the operating people believe that the purpose of the fact gathering is to make changes in the work with the object of reducing staff, it is naÃÆ' ¯ve to expect them to help. The key to obtaining cooperation is two-way loyalty and trust. We get this by commitment to developing improvements that simultaneously serve the interests of employees while they serve the interests of owners, managers and customers. Process improvement projects should be undertaken with the object of making the company as good as it can be, not reducing staff. Of course process improvements will change the work, often eliminating tasks. This is obvious. Not quite so obvious is the fact that eliminating tasks does not have to mean reducing staff. It can mean having resources available at no additional cost to do any number of things needed by the organization, not the least of which could be further improvement work. And, no one is in a better position to improve the work than the people who know it firsthand. When organizations are truly committed to their people and their people know this, their people can relax and enthusiastically commit themselves to continuous improvement. This article is written for companies that want to capture the enormous potential of enthusiastic employees embracing new technology. They cannot accomplish this with lip service. The employees of an organization are its most valuable resource. When executives say this sort of thing publicly but then treat their people as expenses to be gotten rid of at the first opportunity, that is lip service. Resources should be maintained and utilized, not dumped. When they are dumped, trust dissolves. Meanwhile the people and their society have changed significantly in the last few decades. The popularization of computers stands high among the factors that have contributed to recent social change. Young people are being exposed to computers early in their education. A sizeable portion of the work force is comfortable working with computers. This was certainly not so a generation ago. Another social change that is very important to process improvement is the increasing acceptance of involving operating level employees in the improvement process. It has become rather commonplace to form teams of operating people. Along with the increasing acceptance of employee involvement has come a dramatic change in the role of the internal consultant who is learning new skills for working with teams. This article addresses the role of the facilitator who gathers facts about work processes to use with an improvement team. The facilitator follows a work process as it passes through departmental boundaries and prepares an as-is Chart. Then an improvement team made up of people from the departments involved in the process studies the as-is Chart and develops a To-be Chart. Facilitators learn how to study work processes. Facilitators are a great help as they gather and organizing the facts of work processes and guide the study of those facts by improvement teams. *What Facts to Gather? Knowing what facts you want to gather is crucial to effective fact gathering. When a people do not know what they are looking for but attempt to learn everything they can, in effect to gather all of the facts, they embark on endless and often fruitless effort. Knowing what facts not to gather is just as important as knowing the facts that are needed. There is a pattern to fact gathering that is particularly helpful during process improvement. It makes use of the standard journalism questions: what, where, when, why, who and how. This pattern focuses on the information that is relevant for process improvement and avoids that which is not. How it accomplishes this is not completely obvious. It goes like this. *Distinguishing Between Facts and Skill: No matter how carefully facts are gathered, they will never match the understandings of people who have experienced the work first hand for years. Those people possess the organizational memory. They have accumulated detailed knowledge that is available to them alone. They access this knowledge intuitively, as they need it, in a fashion that has the feel of common sense. But, they cannot simply explain it to someone else. For instance, we could ask an experienced medical doctor what he does when he visits a patient and expect a general answer like, I examine the patient and enter a diagnosis on the patient record form. However, if we then asked How do you do that? How do you know what to write as the diagnosis? we would be asking for detail that took years to accumulate. During those years this detail has been transformed from myriads of individual facts to intuitively available skill. We simply cannot gather it. The information that the doctor and for that matter all employees can readily provide answers the question, What? The information that cannot be provided because it resides in the realm of skill answers the question, How? Rather than attempt to gather the skill and settling for simplistic/superficial data we acknowledge that that information is not accessible to the fact gatherer. However, this information is critical to effective improvement. In order to get at it, we must invite the people who have it to join in the improvement development activity. This is the fundamental strength of employee teams. They provide the organizational memory. And, dont think for a moment that medical doctors have skill but clerks dont. In all lines of work there are differences of skill levels. Our object in process improvement should be to incorporate into our changes the finest skills available. So we use teams of the best experienced employees we have. To do otherwise invites superficiality. *Using the Description Pattern: The description pattern provides facts, not skills. We organize these facts on charts as effective reminders of the steps in a process. When these charts are used by people who are skilled at performing those steps, we have the knowledge we need for improvement. Therefore: What Answer this question at every step. This tells us what the step is and provides the necessary reminder for the team. Where This question deals specifically with location. Answer it for the very first step of the process and then every time the location changes and you will always know location. When When dealing with processes, this question generally means how long. Ask it throughout the fact gathering, making note of all delays and particularly time-consuming steps. Who This question deals specifically with who is performing each step. The easiest way to collect and display this information is to note every time a new person takes over. How This question is important but it changes the fact gathering to skill gathering. We should rarely get into it. Instead we leave this information to be provided by the team, as needed. Why This question is different. It is evaluative rather than descriptive. It becomes most important when we study the process for improvement but while we are fact gathering, it is premature. Just gather facts. Later as a team we will question the why of each of them. http://www.freetutes.com/systemanalysis/images/decriptivepattern.gif Follow this pattern and: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ You will always show what is happening. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ You will always show where the work is happening. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ You will show who is doing the work whenever a person is involved. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ You will show when most of the processing time is occurring. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ You wont bog your readers down with how the individual steps are done, non flow detail. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ You wont bog your readers down with how the individual steps are done, non flow detail. *How to Initiate Fact Gathering Public Announcement: A public announcement can go a long way towards inspiring cooperation. It can also provide an opportunity to forestall the anxieties just discussed. The people working in the areas affected by the project are informed that a five or ten minute meeting will be held at the end of a work shift and that a senior executive has an important announcement. (This senior executive should be a person whose authority spans the entire project.) The meeting includes an announcement of the project, its objective, who is involved in it, a request for the support of all employees and an invitation for questions. It is conducted by the executive mentioned above because it is important that statements about the intent of the project be made by someone who has the authority to stand behind his or her words. It is also helpful for the executive to introduce the analyst and the team members who have been assigned to the project. The issue of staff cuts may be introduced by the executive or may surface as a question. (Or, it may not arise at all in organizations where loss of employment is a non-issue.) If it is addressed, it should be answered directly and forcefully. I guarantee there will be no loss of employment because of work improvement. This is not a difficult guarantee for executives who genuinely believe that their people are their most valuable resource. (Note, this is not a guarantee that there will be no loss of employment. If we fail to improve our work, there is a pretty certain guarantee that there will be loss of employment.) This meeting can also have constructive side effects. One is that the analyst gets a public introduction to the people from whom he or she will be gathering data. Simultaneously, everyone is informed of the reason for the project, making it unnecessary for the analyst to explain this at each interview. And, the explanation carries the assurances of the boss rather than an analyst. *Common Sense Protocol Where to Get the Facts? It is critical that the analyst go where the facts are to learn about them. This means going where the work is done and learning from the people who are doing it. If there are a number of people doing the same work, one who is particularly knowledgeable should be selected or several may be interviewed. Unfortunately, analysts often try to collect data in indirect ways. Occasionally this may be for no better reason than that the analyst is too lazy to go where the work is done. Or, the analyst may have been instructed to keep the project a secret because management wants to avoid stirring up concern about job loss. Unfortunately, when employees learn (and they will) that secret projects are underway in their areas, their anxiety levels will rise all the higher, encouraging more non-cooperation. Introverts tend to be attracted to research type work and they also tend to find excuses to avoid meeting people. They are often tempted to use written procedures as their source of data rather than going directly to the operating people. Or, they may simply assume data to avoid having to go after it. Sometimes an analyst arrives in the supervisors office (a proper practice when visiting a department for the first time) and the supervisor wants to provide the information rather than having the analyst bother the employee who does the work. This could be motivated by a sincere desire to help. The supervisor may also want to slant the data. Regardless of the motive, it separates the analyst from the work place and the person doing the work. Whatever the reasons, each time an analyst settles for collecting data at a distance from reality, the quality of the analysis suffers. Guesses replace facts. Fantasy replaces reality. Where the differences are small the analyst may slide by, but professionals should not try to slide by. Where the differences are large the analyst may be seriously embarrassed. Meanwhile, the quality of the work suffers and, in the worst cases, major commitments to work methods are made based on faulty premises. Introduction to the Employee at the Work Place When we are gathering data, everywhere you go people are accommodating you, interrupting their work to help you do your work. The least you can do is show that you are willing to return the favor. When the time is not convenient, agree to come back later. Occasionally an employee will suggest that it is an inconvenient time and ask that you come back later. Sometimes, however, the employee is seriously inconvenienced but for some reason does not speak up about it. A sensitive analyst may notice this. However, to be on the safe side it helps to ask, Is this a convenient time? Coming back later is usually a minor problem. Typically you have a number of places to visit. Pick a more convenient time and return. Dont be surprised if the employee appreciates it and is waiting for you with materials set out when you return. Whatever you do, dont start suspecting that every time a person puts you off that person is trying to scuttle your work or is a difficult employee. Assume the person is honestly inconvenienced and simply come back later. If someone puts you off repeatedly, it is still a minor inconvenience as long as you have data to collect elsewhere. Give the employees the benefit of the doubt, knowing that every time you accommodate them their debt to you grows. If you do in fact run into a genuinely uncooperative and eventually have to impose a time, it is nice to be able to remind that person of how many times you have rescheduled for his or her benefit. At such times you will also appreciate the project-announcement meeting when the senior executive brought everyone together, described the importance of the project and asked for support. As you are about to start the interview the employee may bring up a subject for idle conversation such as the weather, a sports event, a new building renovation, etc. People often do this when they first meet in order to size up one another (on a subject that doesnt matter) before opening up on subjects that are important. Since the purpose, on the part of the employee, is to find out what you are like you will do well to join in the conversation politely and respectfully. Then when it has continued for an appropriate amount of time, shift to the subject of the interview, perhaps with a comment about not wanting to take up too much of the employees time. *Respect: Most of the time analysts gather data from people at the operating levels who happen to be junior in status (i.e. file clerks, messengers, data entry clerks). Be careful not to act superior. One thing you can do to help with this is to set in your mind that wherever you gather data you are talking to the top authority in the organization. After all, if the top authority on filing in the organization is the CEO, the organization has serious trouble. Dont treat this subject lightly. We all receive a good deal of conditioning to treat people in superior positions with special respect. Unfortunately, the flip side of this conditioning leads to treating people in lesser positions with limited respect. Unintentionally, analysts frequently show disrespect for operating employees by implying that the way they do their work is foolish. The analyst is usually eager to discover opportunities for improvement. When something appears awkward or unnecessarily time-consuming the analyst is likely to frown, smile, act surprised, etc. In various ways, an analyst can suggest criticism or even ridicule of the way the work is being done. The bottom line is that the analyst, with only a few minutes observing the work, is implying that he or she knows how to do it better than a person who has been doing it for years. This is unacceptable behavior. Dont do it! Go to people to find out what is happening, not to judge what is happening. First get the facts. Later we can search out better ways and invite knowledgeable operating people to join us in that effort. *A Caution about Instant Improvements: While the analyst cannot match the employees detailed knowledge of what happens at their workplaces, it is not at all difficult to discover some things that those people are unaware of, things that involve multiple workplaces. During data collection, opportunities for improvement of a certain type surface immediately. Some of them are outstanding. The analyst discovers, for instance, that records and reports are being maintained that are destroyed without ever being used. Time-consuming duplication of unneeded records is found. Information is delivered through roundabout channels creating costly delays. The only reason these opportunities were not discovered earlier by the employees is that the records had never been followed through the several work areas. These instant improvements simply werent visible from the limited perspective of one office. The people preparing the reports had no idea that the people receiving them had no use for them and were destroying them. The people proc essing redundant records had no idea that other people were doing the same thing. These discoveries can be clearly beneficial to the organization. However, they can be devastating for the relationship between the analyst and the operating employees. The problem lies in the fact that the analyst discovers them. This may delude the analyst into believing that he or she is really capable of redesigning the procedure without the help of the employees. After all, they have been doing this work all these years and never made these discoveries. I found them so quickly. I must be very bright. Most people spend a great deal of their lives seeking confirmation of their worth. When something like this presents itself, an analyst is likely to treasure it. It becomes a personal accomplishment. It is perceived as support for two judgments, I am a lot better at this than those employees. and Employees in general are not capable of seeing these kinds of things. Both of these judgments are wrong. The credit goes to the fact that the analyst was the first person with the opportunity to follow the records through their flow. If any one of those employees had done the same thing, the odds are that the results would have been the same. The analyst is apt to alienate the employees if he or she grabs the credit for these discoveries. If this prompts the analyst to proceed with the entire redesign of the procedure without the help of the employees, he or she will be cut off from hundreds of finer details, any one of which could seriously compromise the effort. Taking credit for these early discoveries can also alienate employees even if they are invited into the improvement activity. For instance, it is not uncommon for an analyst who is about to go over a new process chart with a group of users to start by telling them about the discoveries made while preparing the chart. This can appear very innocent, but the fact is, the analyst does this in order to get the credit for the discoveries before the team members spot them. Instinctively, the analyst knows that as soon as the employees see the chart those discoveries will be obvious to them as well. An analyst who realizes that the enthusiastic involvement of the team members is much more important than the credit for one idea or another will want to keep quiet about early discoveries until after the employees get a chance to study the chart. In doing this the analyst positions himself or herself to provide professional support to knowledgeable employees. Soon they make these obvious discoveries for themselves and this encourages them to become involved and excited about the project. It makes it theirs. In the end the analyst shares the credit for a successful project, rather than grabbing the credit for the first few ideas in a project that fails for lack of support. *Recording Technique: Recording Data The keys to effective data recording are a reverence for facts and knowing how to look for them. You do not go into data collection with a preconceived notion of the design of the final procedure. You let the facts tell you what shape the procedure should take. But, you must be able to find facts and know how to record them. This is done by breaking down the procedure into steps and listing them in proper sequence, without leaving things out. The analyst keeps his or her attention on the subject being charted, follows its flow, step by step, and is not distracted by other subjects that could easily lead off onto tangents. The analyst becomes immersed in the data collection, one flow at a time. Record what is actually happening, not what should happen or could happen. Record without a preference. Wash the wishes from your eyes and let the facts speak for themselves. When later you have them neatly organized and present them for study the facts will assert their authority as they tell their story. *The Authority of the Facts: There are two authority systems in every organization. One is a social authority set up for the convenience of arranging people and desks and telephones, dividing up the work and making decisions. The other authority system is reality itself. Too often the former is revered and feared and attended to constantly, while the latter is attended to when time permits. Yet, whether we come to grips with the facts or not, they enforce themselves with an unyielding will of steel. Reality is whether we are in touch with it or not. And, it is indifferent to us. It is not hurt when we ignore it. It is not pleased or flattered or thankful when we discover it. Reality simply does not care, but it enforces its will continuously. We are the ones who care. We care when reality rewards us. We care when reality crushes us. The better we are able to organize our methods of work in harmony with reality, the more we prosper. When we are unable to discover reality, or deny reality we are hurt. Period! So we enter into data collection with respect for reality. We demonstrate respect for the people who are closest to reality. And, we do our best to carefully record the unvarnished truth. *Observation: A person who has been doing a job for years will have an understanding of the work that goes well beyond his or her ability to describe it. Dont expect operating people to describe perfectly and dont credit yourself with hearing perfectly. Sometimes it is a lot easier for a person to show you what he or she does than to describe it. A demonstration may save a good deal of time. A person might be able to show you how the task is done in minutes but could talk about it for hours. Most people are able to speak more comfortably to a human being than to a machine. Furthermore, a tape recorder doesnt capture what is seen. If you are going to use a tape recorder, use it after you have left the interview site. It can help you capture a lot of detail while it is fresh in your mind without causing the employee to be ill at ease. *Level of Detail: As covered earlier while explaining the Description Pattern, you can gather facts but not skill. If you attempt to gather enough information to redesign a procedure without the help of experienced employees, your data collection will be interminably delayed. For instance, if you are studying a procedure that crosses five desks, and the five people who do the work each have five years of experience, together they have a quarter of a century of first-hand experience. There is no way to match that experience by interviewing. No matter how many times you go back, there will still be new things coming up. Then, if you redesign the procedure based solely on your scanty information, your results will be deficient in the eyes of these more experienced people. It doesnt do any good to complain that they didnt tell you about that after you have designed a defective procedure. Save yourself a lot of time and grief by not bothering to record the details of the individual steps and concentrate on the flow of the work. It goes here. They do this. It sits. It is copied. This part goes there. That one goes to them. Never mind the detail of how they do the different steps. Just note the steps in their proper sequence. Then, when it comes time to analyze and you invite in those five people, they bring with them their twenty-five years of detailed experience. Voila! You have the big picture and you have the detail. You have all that you need to discover the opportunities that are there. *Defused resentment: When people who have been doing work for years are ignored while their work is being improved, there is a clear statement that their experience is not considered of value. These people tend to feel slighted. When the organization then pays consultants who have never done the work to develop improvements, this slight becomes an insult. When the consultants arrive at the workplace trying to glean information from the employees so that they can use it to develop their own answers, how do you expect the employees to react? Do you think they will be enthusiastic about providing the best of their inside knowledge to these consultants? Here, let me help you show my boss how much better you can figure out my work than I can? Really! We dont have to get into this kind of disagreeable competition. Instead we honestly accept the cardinal principle of employee empowerment which is, The person doing the job knows far more than anyone else about the best way of doing that job and therefore is the one person best fitted to improve it. Allan H. Mogensen, 1901-1989, the father of Work Simplification. By involving operating people in the improvement process, you also reduce the risk of getting distorted or misleading data. Their experience is brought into improvement meetings, unaltered. If they get excited about helping to develop the best possible process they will have little reason to distort or withhold the data. *How to Keep the Data Organized: One important characteristic of professional performance is the ability to work effectively on many assignments simultaneously. Professionals have to be able to leave a project frequently and pick it up again without losing ground. The keys to doing this well are: 1. Knowing the tools of the profession and using them in a disciplined manner. 2. Working quickly. 3. Capturing data the same day that it is gathered *Using the Tools of the Profession with Discipline: In this respect, there is more professionalism in a well conceived set of file names and directories than there is in a wall full of certificates belonging to a disorganized person. For that matter, a three-ring binder may do more good than another certificate. A professional simply keeps track of the information that he or she gathers. Perhaps the worst enemy of data organization is the tendency on the part of intelligent people, who are for the moment intensely involved in some activity, to assume that the clear picture of it that they have today will be available to them tomorrow or a week later or months later. One way of avoiding this is to label and assemble data as if it will be worked on by someone who has never seen it before. Believe it or not, that person may turn out to be you. A word about absentmindedness may be appropriate. When people are goal-oriented and extremely busy they frequently find themselves looking for something they had just moments before. The reason is that when they put it down their mind was on something else and they did not make a record of where they put it. To find it again they must think back to the last time they used it and then look around where they were at that time. Two things we can do to avoid this are: 1. Develop the discipline of closure so that activities are wrapped up. 2. Select certain places to put tools and materials and do so consistently. *Working Quickly: An analyst should take notes quickly. Speed in recording is important in order to keep up with the flow of information as the employee describes the work. It also shortens the interview, making the interruption less burdensome to the employee, and it reduces the probability that something will come up those forces the interview to be terminated prematurely. At the close of the interview it is a good idea to review the notes with the employee, holding them in clear view for the employee to see and then, of course, thank the employee for his or her help. Skill in rapid note-taking can be developed over time. This does not mean that you rush the interview. Quite the contrary. Address the person from whom you are gathering information calmly and patiently. But, when you are actually recording data you do it quickly and keep your attention on the person. For process analysis data gathering, you dont have to write tedious sentences. The charting technique provides you with specialized shorthand (using the symbols and conventions of process charting in rough form). See the rough notes following. *Same Day Capture of Data: The analyst then returns to his or her office with sketchy notes, hastily written. These notes serve as reminders of what has been seen and heard. Their value as reminders deteriorates rapidly. While the interview is fresh in mind these notes can bring forth vivid recall. As time passes they lose this power

High Blood Pressure :: Health, Cardiovascular Disease

High blood pressure is considered one of the highest causes of morbidity, one of the main leading causes for cardiovascular disease, and social global burden health risk factor. In addition to the high cost burden to the global health service providers. (referances) Data from World health organization2002, estimated that high blood pressure was the cause of death for more than 7 million individuals every year , affecting almost one billion of world population and responsible for 11% of all diseases burden in industrial countries.( WHO,2003) (BHFSD,2010).in industrial countries high blood pressure estimated to be the case of death for more than 20% of men and almost 24% of women (WHO.2002b) Kearney et al (2005) reported that in 2000, 972 million individuals were hypertensive which account for 26.4% of world population, of which 333 million in developed countries and 639 million in developing countries. It was affected 26.6% of men and 26.1% of women of general population. This study predicts this number to soar by about 60% in 2025 to reach a total of 1.56 billion. This elevation expected to be 9% and 13% in both men and women respectively. They found the highest prevalence rate of high blood pressure in women was in former socialist economies region while for men was in Latin American and Caribbean region and the lowest prevalence was in â€Å"other Asian and islands† region for both men and women. Elevated blood pressure contributes to (62%) of cardiovascular diseases, for example it attributes to 54% of stroke cases and 47% ischemic heart disease globally ( (Lawes et al., 2008 eup fix), it also responsible for 50% of heart failure burden in world. Furthermore the INTERHEART study estimated that having a hypertension was the reason for 25% of heart attack cases in both central and Eastern Europe while it represents the same reason for 22 % of Western Europe. Individuals who have an elevated blood pressure are suspect to have heart attack twice more than normotensive. (Yusuf et al., 2004 or British heart stast) In terms of disability –adjusted life-years, high blood pressure is come as a third cause after underweight and unsafe sex by affecting around 64 million. (Ezzati et al, 2002) .High blood pressure was estimated to be attributable to causing 9.3 % of disability in high income countries and 5.6% of disability in middle and low income countries.

Angels Demons Chapter 64-65

64 Langdon and Vittoria's taxi completed the one-mile sprint up the wide Via della Scrofa in just over a minute. They skidded to a stop on the south side of the Piazza del Popolo just before eight. Not having any lire, Langdon overpaid the driver in U.S. dollars. He and Vittoria jumped out. The piazza was quiet except for the laughter of a handful of locals seated outside the popular Rosati Cafe – a hot spot of the Italian literati. The breeze smelled of espresso and pastry. Langdon was still in shock over his mistake at the Pantheon. With a cursory glance at this square, however, his sixth sense was already tingling. The piazza seemed subtly filled with Illuminati significance. Not only was it laid out in a perfectly elliptical shape, but dead center stood a towering Egyptian obelisk – a square pillar of stone with a distinctively pyramidal tip. Spoils of Rome's imperial plundering, obelisks were scattered across Rome and referred to by symbologists as â€Å"Lofty Pyramids† – skyward extensions of the sacred pyramidal form. As Langdon's eyes moved up the monolith, though, his sight was suddenly drawn to something else in the background. Something even more remarkable. â€Å"We're in the right place,† he said quietly, feeling a sudden exposed wariness. â€Å"Have a look at that.† Langdon pointed to the imposing Porta del Popolo – the high stone archway at the far end of the piazza. The vaulted structure had been overlooking the piazza for centuries. Dead center of the archway's highest point was a symbolic engraving. â€Å"Look familiar?† Vittoria looked up at the huge carving. â€Å"A shining star over a triangular pile of stones?† Langdon shook his head. â€Å"A source of Illumination over a pyramid.† Vittoria turned, her eyes suddenly wide. â€Å"Like†¦ the Great Seal of the United States?† â€Å"Exactly. The Masonic symbol on the one-dollar bill.† Vittoria took a deep breath and scanned the piazza. â€Å"So where's this damn church?† The Church of Santa Maria del Popolo stood out like a misplaced battleship, askew at the base of a hill on the southeast corner of the piazza. The eleventh-century stone aerie was made even more clumsy by the tower of scaffolding covering the faà §ade. Langdon's thoughts were a blur as they raced toward the edifice. He stared up at the church in wonder. Could a murder really be about to take place inside? He wished Olivetti would hurry. The gun felt awkward in his pocket. The church's front stairs were ventaglio – a welcoming, curved fan – ironic in this case because they were blocked with scaffolding, construction equipment, and a sign warning: Construzzione. Non Entrare Langdon realized that a church closed for renovation meant total privacy for a killer. Not like the Pantheon. No fancy tricks needed here. Only to find a way in. Vittoria slipped without hesitation between the sawhorses and headed up the staircase. â€Å"Vittoria,† Langdon cautioned. â€Å"If he's still in there†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Vittoria did not seem to hear. She ascended the main portico to the church's sole wooden door. Langdon hurried up the stairs behind her. Before he could say a word she had grasped the handle and pulled. Langdon held his breath. The door did not budge. â€Å"There must be another entrance,† Vittoria said. â€Å"Probably,† Langdon said, exhaling, â€Å"but Olivetti will be here in a minute. It's too dangerous to go in. We should cover the church from out here until – â€Å" Vittoria turned, her eyes blazing. â€Å"If there's another way in, there's another way out. If this guy disappears, we're fungito.† Langdon knew enough Italian to know she was right. The alley on the right side of the church was pinched and dark, with high walls on both sides. It smelled of urine – a common aroma in a city where bars outnumbered public rest rooms twenty to one. Langdon and Vittoria hurried into the fetid dimness. They had gone about fifteen yards down when Vittoria tugged Langdon's arm and pointed. Langdon saw it too. Up ahead was an unassuming wooden door with heavy hinges. Langdon recognized it as the standard porta sacra – a private entrance for clergy. Most of these entrances had gone out of use years ago as encroaching buildings and limited real estate relegated side entrances to inconvenient alleyways. Vittoria hurried to the door. She arrived and stared down at the doorknob, apparently perplexed. Langdon arrived behind her and eyed the peculiar donut-shaped hoop hanging where the doorknob should have been. â€Å"An annulus,† he whispered. Langdon reached out and quietly lifted the ring in his hand. He pulled the ring toward him. The fixture clicked. Vittoria shifted, looking suddenly uneasy. Quietly, Langdon twisted the ring clockwise. It spun loosely 360 degrees, not engaging. Langdon frowned and tried the other direction with the same result. Vittoria looked down the remainder of the alley. â€Å"You think there's another entrance?† Langdon doubted it. Most Renaissance cathedrals were designed as makeshift fortresses in the event a city was stormed. They had as few entrances as possible. â€Å"If there is another way in,† he said, â€Å"it's probably recessed in the rear bastion – more of an escape route than an entrance.† Vittoria was already on the move. Langdon followed deeper into the alley. The walls shot skyward on both sides of him. Somewhere a bell began ringing eight o'clock†¦ Robert Langdon did not hear Vittoria the first time she called to him. He had slowed at a stained-glass window covered with bars and was trying to peer inside the church. â€Å"Robert!† Her voice was a loud whisper. Langdon looked up. Vittoria was at the end of the alley. She was pointing around the back of the church and waving to him. Langdon jogged reluctantly toward her. At the base of the rear wall, a stone bulwark jutted out concealing a narrow grotto – a kind of compressed passageway cutting directly into the foundation of the church. â€Å"An entrance?† Vittoria asked. Langdon nodded. Actually an exit, but we won't get technical. Vittoria knelt and peered into the tunnel. â€Å"Let's check the door. See if it's open.† Langdon opened his mouth to object, but Vittoria took his hand and pulled him into the opening. â€Å"Wait,† Langdon said. She turned impatiently toward him. Langdon sighed. â€Å"I'll go first.† Vittoria looked surprised. â€Å"More chivalry?† â€Å"Age before beauty.† â€Å"Was that a compliment?† Langdon smiled and moved past her into the dark. â€Å"Careful on the stairs.† He inched slowly into the darkness, keeping one hand on the wall. The stone felt sharp on his fingertips. For an instant Langdon recalled the ancient myth of Daedelus, how the boy kept one hand on the wall as he moved through the Minotaur's labyrinth, knowing he was guaranteed to find the end if he never broke contact with the wall. Langdon moved forward, not entirely certain he wanted to find the end. The tunnel narrowed slightly, and Langdon slowed his pace. He sensed Vittoria close behind him. As the wall curved left, the tunnel opened into a semicircular alcove. Oddly, there was faint light here. In the dimness Langdon saw the outline of a heavy wooden door. â€Å"Uh oh,† he said. â€Å"Locked?† â€Å"It was.† â€Å"Was?† Vittoria arrived at his side. Langdon pointed. Lit by a shaft of light coming from within, the door hung ajar†¦ its hinges splintered by a wrecking bar still lodged in the wood. They stood a moment in silence. Then, in the dark, Langdon felt Vittoria's hands on his chest, groping, sliding beneath his jacket. â€Å"Relax, professor,† she said. â€Å"I'm just getting the gun.† At that moment, inside the Vatican Museums, a task force of Swiss Guards spread out in all directions. The museum was dark, and the guards wore U.S. Marine issue infrared goggles. The goggles made everything appear an eerie shade of green. Every guard wore headphones connected to an antennalike detector that he waved rhythmically in front of him – the same devices they used twice a week to sweep for electronic bugs inside the Vatican. They moved methodically, checking behind statues, inside niches, closets, under furniture. The antennae would sound if they detected even the tiniest magnetic field. Tonight, however, they were getting no readings at all. 65 The interior of Santa Maria del Popolo was a murky cave in the dimming light. It looked more like a half-finished subway station than a cathedral. The main sanctuary was an obstacle course of torn-up flooring, brick pallets, mounds of dirt, wheelbarrows, and even a rusty backhoe. Mammoth columns rose through the floor, supporting a vaulted roof. In the air, silt drifted lazily in the muted glow of the stained glass. Langdon stood with Vittoria beneath a sprawling Pinturicchio fresco and scanned the gutted shrine. Nothing moved. Dead silence. Vittoria held the gun out in front of her with both hands. Langdon checked his watch: 8:04 P.M. We're crazy to be in here, he thought. It's too dangerous. Still he knew if the killer were inside, the man could leave through any door he wanted, making a one-gun outside stakeout totally fruitless. Catching him inside was the only way†¦ that was, if he was even still here. Langdon felt guilt-ridden over the blunder that had cost everyone their chance at the Pantheon. He was in no position to insist on precaution now; he was the one who had backed them into this corner. Vittoria looked harrowed as she scanned the church. â€Å"So,† she whispered. â€Å"Where is this Chigi Chapel?† Langdon gazed through the dusky ghostliness toward the back of the cathedral and studied the outer walls. Contrary to common perception, Renaissance cathedrals invariably contained multiple chapels, huge cathedrals like Notre Dame having dozens. Chapels were less rooms than they were hollows – semicircular niches holding tombs around a church's perimeter wall. Bad news, Langdon thought, seeing the four recesses on each side wall. There were eight chapels in all. Although eight was not a particularly overwhelming number, all eight openings were covered with huge sheets of clear polyurethane due to the construction, the translucent curtains apparently intended to keep dust off the tombs inside the alcoves. â€Å"It could be any of those draped recesses,† Langdon said. â€Å"No way to know which is the Chigi without looking inside every one. Could be a good reason to wait for Oliv – â€Å" â€Å"Which is the secondary left apse?† she asked. Langdon studied her, surprised by her command of architectural terminology. â€Å"Secondary left apse?† Vittoria pointed at the wall behind him. A decorative tile was embedded in the stone. It was engraved with the same symbol they had seen outside – a pyramid beneath a shining star. The grime-covered plaque beside it read: Coat of arms of Alexander Chigi whose tomb is located in the secondary left apse of this Cathedral Langdon nodded. Chigi's coat of arms was a pyramid and star? He suddenly found himself wondering if the wealthy patron Chigi had been an Illuminatus. He nodded to Vittoria. â€Å"Nice work, Nancy Drew.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Never mind. I – â€Å" A piece of metal clattered to the floor only yards away. The clang echoed through the entire church. Langdon pulled Vittoria behind a pillar as she whipped the gun toward the sound and held it there. Silence. They waited. Again there was sound, this time a rustling. Langdon held his breath. I never should have let us come in here! The sound moved closer, an intermittent scuffling, like a man with a limp. Suddenly around the base of the pillar, an object came into view. â€Å"Figlio di puttana!† Vittoria cursed under her breath, jumping back. Langdon fell back with her. Beside the pillar, dragging a half-eaten sandwich in paper, was an enormous rat. The creature paused when it saw them, staring a long moment down the barrel of Vittoria's weapon, and then, apparently unmoved, continued dragging its prize off to the recesses of the church. â€Å"Son of a†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Langdon gasped, his heart racing. Vittoria lowered the gun, quickly regaining her composure. Langdon peered around the side of the column to see a workman's lunchbox splayed on the floor, apparently knocked off a sawhorse by the resourceful rodent. Langdon scanned the basilica for movement and whispered, â€Å"If this guy's here, he sure as hell heard that. You sure you don't want to wait for Olivetti?† â€Å"Secondary left apse,† Vittoria repeated. â€Å"Where is it?† Reluctantly Langdon turned and tried to get his bearings. Cathedral terminology was like stage directions – totally counterintuitive. He faced the main altar. Stage center. Then he pointed with his thumb backward over his shoulder. They both turned and looked where he was pointing. It seemed the Chigi Chapel was located in the third of four recessed alcoves to their right. The good news was that Langdon and Vittoria were on the correct side of the church. The bad news was that they were at the wrong end. They would have to traverse the length of the cathedral, passing three other chapels, each of them, like the Chigi Chapel, covered with translucent plastic shrouds. â€Å"Wait,† Langdon said. â€Å"I'll go first.† â€Å"Forget it.† â€Å"I'm the one who screwed up at the Pantheon.† She turned. â€Å"But I'm the one with the gun.† In her eyes Langdon could see what she was really thinking†¦ I'm the one who lost my father. I'm the one who helped build a weapon of mass destruction. This guy's kneecaps are mine†¦ Langdon sensed the futility and let her go. He moved beside her, cautiously, down the east side of the basilica. As they passed the first shrouded alcove, Langdon felt taut, like a contestant on some surreal game show. I'll take curtain number three, he thought. The church was quiet, the thick stone walls blocking out all hints of the outside world. As they hurried past one chapel after the other, pale humanoid forms wavered like ghosts behind the rustling plastic. Carved marble, Langdon told himself, hoping he was right. It was 8:06 P.M. Had the killer been punctual and slipped out before Langdon and Vittoria had entered? Or was he still here? Langdon was unsure which scenario he preferred. They passed the second apse, ominous in the slowly darkening cathedral. Night seemed to be falling quickly now, accentuated by the musty tint of the stained-glass windows. As they pressed on, the plastic curtain beside them billowed suddenly, as if caught in a draft. Langdon wondered if someone somewhere had opened a door. Vittoria slowed as the third niche loomed before them. She held the gun before her, motioning with her head to the stele beside the apse. Carved in the granite block were two words: Capella Chigi Langdon nodded. Without a sound they moved to the corner of the opening, positioning themselves behind a wide pillar. Vittoria leveled the gun around a corner at the plastic. Then she signaled for Langdon to pull back the shroud. A good time to start praying, he thought. Reluctantly, he reached over her shoulder. As carefully as possible, he began to pull the plastic aside. It moved an inch and then crinkled loudly. They both froze. Silence. After a moment, moving in slow motion, Vittoria leaned forward and peered through the narrow slit. Langdon looked over her shoulder. For a moment, neither one of them breathed. â€Å"Empty,† Vittoria finally said, lowering the gun. â€Å"We're too late.† Langdon did not hear. He was in awe, transported for an instant to another world. In his life, he had never imagined a chapel that looked like this. Finished entirely in chestnut marble, the Chigi Chapel was breathtaking. Langdon's trained eye devoured it in gulps. It was as earthly a chapel as Langdon could fathom, almost as if Galileo and the Illuminati had designed it themselves. Overhead, the domed cupola shone with a field of illuminated stars and the seven astronomical planets. Below that the twelve signs of the zodiac – pagan, earthly symbols rooted in astronomy. The zodiac was also tied directly to Earth, Air, Fire, Water†¦ the quadrants representing power, intellect, ardor, emotion. Earth is for power, Langdon recalled. Farther down the wall, Langdon saw tributes to the Earth's four temporal seasons – primavera, estate, autunno, inverno. But far more incredible than any of this were the two huge structures dominating the room. Langdon stared at them in silent wonder. It can't be, he thought. It just can't be! But it was. On either side of the chapel, in perfect symmetry, were two ten-foot-high marble pyramids. â€Å"I don't see a cardinal,† Vittoria whispered. â€Å"Or an assassin.† She pulled aside the plastic and stepped in. Langdon's eyes were transfixed on the pyramids. What are pyramids doing inside a Christian chapel? And incredibly, there was more. Dead center of each pyramid, embedded in their anterior faà §ades, were gold medallions†¦ medallions like few Langdon had ever seen†¦ perfect ellipses. The burnished disks glimmered in the setting sun as it sifted through the cupola. Galileo's ellipses? Pyramids? A cupola of stars? The room had more Illuminati significance than any room Langdon could have fabricated in his mind. â€Å"Robert,† Vittoria blurted, her voice cracking. â€Å"Look!† Langdon wheeled, reality returning as his eyes dropped to where she was pointing. â€Å"Bloody hell!† he shouted, jumping backward. Sneering up at them from the floor was the image of a skeleton – an intricately detailed, marble mosaic depicting â€Å"death in flight.† The skeleton was carrying a tablet portraying the same pyramid and stars they had seen outside. It was not the image, however, that had turned Langdon's blood cold. It was the fact that the mosaic was mounted on a circular stone – a cupermento – that had been lifted out of the floor like a manhole cover and was now sitting off to one side of a dark opening in the floor. â€Å"Demon's hole,† Langdon gasped. He had been so taken with the ceiling he had not even seen it. Tentatively he moved toward the pit. The stench coming up was overwhelming. Vittoria put a hand over her mouth. â€Å"Che puzzo.† â€Å"Effluvium,† Langdon said. â€Å"Vapors from decaying bone.† He breathed through his sleeve as he leaned out over the hole, peering down. Blackness. â€Å"I can't see a thing.† â€Å"You think anybody's down there?† â€Å"No way to know.† Vittoria motioned to the far side of the hole where a rotting, wooden ladder descended into the depths. Langdon shook his head. â€Å"Like hell.† â€Å"Maybe there's a flashlight outside in those tools.† She sounded eager for an excuse to escape the smell. â€Å"I'll look.† â€Å"Careful!† Langdon warned. â€Å"We don't know for sure that the Hassassin – â€Å" But Vittoria was already gone. One strong-willed woman, Langdon thought. As he turned back to the pit, he felt light-headed from the fumes. Holding his breath, he dropped his head below the rim and peered deep into the darkness. Slowly, as his eyes adjusted, he began to see faint shapes below. The pit appeared to open into a small chamber. Demon's hole. He wondered how many generations of Chigis had been unceremoniously dumped in. Langdon closed his eyes and waited, forcing his pupils to dilate so he could see better in the dark. When he opened his eyes again, a pale muted figure hovered below in the darkness. Langdon shivered but fought the instinct to pull out. Am I seeing things? Is that a body? The figure faded. Langdon closed his eyes again and waited, longer this time, so his eyes would pick up the faintest light. Dizziness started to set in, and his thoughts wandered in the blackness. Just a few more seconds. He wasn't sure if it was breathing the fumes or holding his head at a low inclination, but Langdon was definitely starting to feel squeamish. When he finally opened his eyes again, the image before him was totally inexplicable. He was now staring at a crypt bathed in an eerie bluish light. A faint hissing sound reverberated in his ears. Light flickered on the steep walls of the shaft. Suddenly, a long shadow materialized over him. Startled, Langdon scrambled up. â€Å"Look out!† someone exclaimed behind him. Before Langdon could turn, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. He spun to see Vittoria twisting a lit blowtorch away from him, the hissing flame throwing blue light around the chapel. Langdon grabbed his neck. â€Å"What the hell are you doing?† â€Å"I was giving you some light,† she said. â€Å"You backed right into me.† Langdon glared at the portable blowtorch in her hand. â€Å"Best I could do,† she said. â€Å"No flashlights.† Langdon rubbed his neck. â€Å"I didn't hear you come in.† Vittoria handed him the torch, wincing again at the stench of the crypt. â€Å"You think those fumes are combustible?† â€Å"Let's hope not.† He took the torch and moved slowly toward the hole. Cautiously, he advanced to the rim and pointed the flame down into the hole, lighting the side wall. As he directed the light, his eyes traced the outline of the wall downward. The crypt was circular and about twenty feet across. Thirty feet down, the glow found the floor. The ground was dark and mottled. Earthy. Then Langdon saw the body. His instinct was to recoil. â€Å"He's here,† Langdon said, forcing himself not to turn away. The figure was a pallid outline against the earthen floor. â€Å"I think he's been stripped naked.† Langdon flashed on the nude corpse of Leonardo Vetra. â€Å"Is it one of the cardinals?† Langdon had no idea, but he couldn't imagine who the hell else it would be. He stared down at the pale blob. Unmoving. Lifeless. And yet†¦ Langdon hesitated. There was something very strange about the way the figure was positioned. He seemed to be†¦ Langdon called out. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"You think he's alive?† There was no response from below. â€Å"He's not moving,† Langdon said. â€Å"But he looks†¦Ã¢â‚¬  No, impossible. â€Å"He looks what?† Vittoria was peering over the edge now too. Langdon squinted into the darkness. â€Å"He looks like he's standing up.† Vittoria held her breath and lowered her face over the edge for a better look. After a moment, she pulled back. â€Å"You're right. He's standing up! Maybe he's alive and needs help!† She called into the hole. â€Å"Hello?! Mi puo sentire?† There was no echo off the mossy interior. Only silence. Vittoria headed for the rickety ladder. â€Å"I'm going down.† Langdon caught her arm. â€Å"No. It's dangerous. I'll go.† This time Vittoria didn't argue.